Minnesota Hiking Club #43 - Lake Carlos State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#43 - Lake Carlos State Park

Date Hiked: March 13th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Lake Maria State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.83

I knew I was getting tired when a road trip that took just over two hours felt longer than the previous ones that took more than five. 

There were only four parks left. Four stamps to imprint, four passwords to find, and just under two weeks to do it. The following day was going to be magnificent weather, but since it's Minnesota, right after that we were to expect a blizzard, so I did my best to optimize. No good weather goes unpunished in Minnesota's March. 

As previously detailed, I'd first intended to do this park and Lake Maria on the way back from Glendalough, but having the thought that toward the end of this speedrun, I might be exhausted and having trails closer to home could be useful in the completion, I thanked myself for the courtesy. 

Lake Carlos's Hiking Club trail is unpaved and near a lake, so naturally the complaints of muddiness were likely abound. This was a fine mix of slippery slidy mud and ice sheets that hadn't cracked yet. Having learned my lesson from Glacial Lakes (more on that much later in this list), I thought it better to be careful on the ice rather than get my cleats stuck in soft mud. That also turned out to be a good decision, because while I almost slipped a few times on the parts under the woods still covered in ice, I might've torn both ACLs trying to pull my cleats out of the plentiful and abundant mud deposits. 

I think I hiked the trail backwards from what would be expected, though sometimes I did that to get the password out of the way more quickly. It utilizes two different trails for the route, going through the woods and then finishing by the namesake lake, but since I did it in reverse, I started with the lakeshore and wandered through the muddy and/or icy woods. With the shape of two vague loops creating one mid-range trail in terms of length, sequence doesn't matter too much, especially since the minor levels of elevation gain were made more difficult by the slip factor. Mud does not discriminate by uphill or downhill factors, it'll ruin the traverse equally with pleasure. Though it is also slippery enough that it technically could still be considered a ski trail in the loosest of definitions, so it's got that going for it, which is nice! 

This trail probably got a more friendly rating based on the fact that when I was done, my fingers were still able to move, but I imagine it's a lovely stroll with good views at any time of year, even if the mosquitos are treating you as their own personal breakfast buffet. I was almost finished with the journey, and Lake Maria's trail was even shorter than this one, so despite wondering what my figure mudding scores would've been since I stayed upright, my mood was situationally elevated nonetheless. Can't go wrong with hiking in the woods.